Generator sets (or simply “gensets”) commonly experience significant amounts of vibration due to the operation of engines within the gensets that rotate the alternators of the gensets. Consequently, it is usually necessary and desirable to isolate the gensets from the foundation on which they are supported, to avoid the transmission of undesirable vibrations to the foundation and other components outside of the gensets. Commonly the engine of the genset is mounted by way of an additional set of mounting component(s) that is similar to that used to mount the alternator of the genset.
Conventionally, two types of mounting systems are available for isolating vibrations of an engine of a genset from a foundation (or other support structure) of the genset. According to a first conventional mounting system, the engine is mounted by way of one or more rubberized components to one or more skid rails, which in turn are rigidly mounted upon the foundation. According to a second conventional mounting system, the engine is rigidly mounted to one or more skid rails, and the skid rails in turn are coupled to the foundation by way of springs such that the skid rails are spring isolated from the foundation. Both of these conventional mounting systems largely if not entirely succeed in vibrationally isolating the engine from its foundation, and/or in dampening vibrations of the engine.
Independent of the vibrations produced by an engine, the engine also experiences changes in temperature during operation. These temperature changes produce changes in the dimensions of the engine. The amount of such dimensional variation that occurs typically is a function of the overall size of the engine.
Such dimensional changes in an engine due to temperature variation can be problematic with respect to the attachment of the engine to its foundation by way of the mounting systems. In particular, if the front and rear of the engine are rigidly fixed to the skid rails and/or the foundation, and the expansion of the engine is significant, excessive stresses can develop within the engine block and the mounting components (and even with respect to the skid rails and/or the foundation).
To prevent such excessive stresses from developing, some conventional genset assemblies employ additional mounting components that allow the engine to expand, typically both longitudinally (e.g., along an axis parallel to the crankshaft of the engine) and transversely (e.g., along an axis perpendicular to the crankshaft). Such additional components can include, in particular, a “hat” channel in the skid rail or foundation to which the engine is mounted, which receives one or more of the mounting components supporting the engine and allows for at least some movement of those mounting components relative to the skid rail/foundation.
Although the use of such a hat channel successfully allows some of the stresses arising due to engine expansion/contraction to be alleviated, it does not entirely alleviate the problems associated with these stresses. In particular, if the engine is sufficiently large, the engine expansion/contraction can become so great that it is nearly impossible to maintain the structural integrity of the connection between the hat channel and the mounting component(s) coupled within the hat channel, such that the mounting connection of the engine to the skid rail/foundation can become weakened or broken.
Therefore it would be advantageous if a new mounting system could be developed for mounting the engine of a genset (or even the entire genset) with respect to a foundation (or other support structure) so that the engine was both largely (or entirely) vibrationally isolated from the foundation and also was coupled to the foundation in a manner that allowed for expansion/contraction of the engine without the creation of excessive stresses upon the engine, the mounting components, or the foundation. Further it would be advantageous if the mounting system was configured to avoid excessive movement that could result in the damaging of mounting system components, and also maintained coupling between the engine and the foundation even when stresses did for some reason become excessive.